People are starting to question this blanket assertion, at least for certain types of octopuses.
I think we should start questioning lots of things about them. I don’t want to get caught off guard.
Honest to god, if had started a thread with any of these videos and attributed them to a new sci-fi movie, I would have found it to be a lot more believable. That mimic octopus was the most photoshopped-looking real thing I think I’ve ever seen (and I’ve read all the Cracked articles).
Naughty lust.
In Soviet Russia, cephalopod love you!
No…wait…that’s Japan.
I’m guessing this isn’t the thread to share my love of calamari rings in batter?
You only think they’re calamari rings because they’re such clever mimics.
They are actually Sphincter de Frogfish.
Refresh my memory… are those fast or slow twitch muscles?
[Scene: A New York apartment. Someone knocks on the door.]
Woman: [not opening the door] Yes?
Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Arlsburgerhhh?
Woman: Who?
Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Johannesburrrr?
Woman: Who is it?
Voice: [pause] Flowers.
Woman: Flowers for whom?
Voice: [long pause] Plumber, ma’am.
Woman: I don’t need a plumber. You’re that clever mimic octopus, aren’t you?
Voice: [pause] Candygram.
Woman: Candygram, my foot. You get out of here before I call the police. You’re the mimic octopus, and you know it.
Voice: Wait. I-I’m only a landshark, ma’am.
Woman: A landshark? Well…okay. [opens door]
The molluscs embrace you too.
Did I just stumble into a hentai thread?
“The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife,” indeed! Wonderpus powers, activate! Form of… a… er… I can make it look like I have feet!
P.S. I know this is the mimic octopus and not the wonderpus, but they have similar behaviors and come on… I thought it was a good joke.
Yay!
Last night my husband surprised me with a Netflix DVD he slipped into our queue: Cuttlefish: Kings of Camouflage. Definitely worth checking out if you’re into weird and wonderful invertebrates.
That’s the Nova documentary, right? A fascinating show. I think it’s the one where the cuttlefish was displaying enticing patterns on one half of his body while romancing a female, and at the same time presenting a threatening display to another male on the other half of his body (which TruCelt referred to in post #18).
Edit: I guess I could have just clicked on your link to see that it was the Nova episode!
At least we know what one it wasn’t - the mimic octopus is smart
That could well be. i thought it was an octopod, but it’s been a long time since I saw it.
Yes, it was Nova, but I don’t remember that particular bit. They did show them mating, and the smaller, weaker males used their camouflage to disguise themselves as a female so they could slip in unnoticed while the bigger males were fighting. Apparently the ladies value this cleverness because they mate more often with the little guys.
The mating light show is spectacular, though.
Maybe I’m the one who’s mis-remembering. I have “Kings Of Camouflage” on DVD but I haven’t watched it in quite a while. I might be mixing up the scene you described with the one TruCelt described.
I have another PBS special called “Encountering Sea Monsters” which has a segment on cuttlefish; I’ll watch it tonight to see if it has that scene.
Okay, I found the scene I was looking for. In an episode of Nature called “Encountering Sea Monsters” there is a segment on the mating behavior of giant cuttlefish off the southwestern coast of Australia. From the narration:
The video footage clearly shows a male displaying waves of color moving across its skin on one side while the other side is a uniform dark color, and then changing which side was flashing as it moved around the other male. He wasn’t mating with the female yet; she was nearby, biding her time.
“Encountering Sea Monsters” is available on Netflix, along with another episode of Nature, under the title “Nature: Ocean Wonders”.
Carter? 